Vehicle-mounted video or movie cameras are used for police vehicles to record events occurring outside the vehicle. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,289 Lucas et al. issued May 5, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,335 Cohodar issued Apr. 30, 1991; U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,904 Peterson issued Dec. 6, 1988; and German patent application DE 40 16570 A1 Aichele et al. published Sep. 19, 1991. Monitoring cameras stored in protective housings are used for surveillance in stores, factories and the like. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,866 Pearl issued Nov. 23, 1976; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,999 Claggett issued Jul. 10, 1979. Other cameras are mounted in a vehicle for surveillance of the activities of occupants of the vehicle, such as U.S. Pat. No. 1,733,783 Medina issued Oct. 29, 1929; U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,047 Gordon et al. issued Aug. 14, 1973; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,182 Kreuzer issued Jan. 25, 1994.
Video monitoring systems are particularly useful for reducing vandalism and misbehaviour in certain applications such as school buses. In such applications, it is sufficient to have a proportion of "dummy" surveillance camera installations, which do not contain actual cameras, to lower the cost of the system without affecting significantly the effectiveness of the system in reducing misbehaviour by student passengers. In the past, tinted or mirrored glass has been used to conceal whether the box is a "dummy" or a "live" box. However the use of tinted or mirrored glass reduces the light which reaches the camera. Also, in the past it has been difficult to permit adjustment of the orientation of the monitor housing while still ensuring that the housing is not readily tampered with.
There is therefore a need for a video monitoring system which conceals dummy installations without reducing the effectiveness of live installations. There is a further need for monitor housings which can be installed and adjusted readily while not permitting tampering.